Monkey Jesus cosplayer

Here's a Monkey Jesus/restored icon cosplayer in full regalia. The identity of the person behind the mask is the source of controversy: it was posted to Reddit by OhioUPilot12, whose description implied that s/he was the creator of the costume. However, when Spinjump posted that this had been her/his Anime Weekend Atlanta costume, OhioUPilot12 backpedaled and claimed that the original description was an unfortunate misunderstanding.

10 Responses to “Monkey Jesus cosplayer”

Hypothetical question. Pretend for a moment that this woman’s “helpful” restoration happened in the United States–whereupon they probably would have thrown her crazy elderly ass in jail, but never mind. And let’s also pretend that Acme Costumes Co. immediately started making hilarious costumes like this, selling them for profit.

Would she have a copyright claim against them? This may simply be a subset of the whole “can copyright inhere to graffiti” question, in which case I know that the answer is “(monkey) Jesus, it’s complicated.” But, to hear Crazy Restorer Lady tell it, she wasn’t trying to create an original artwork, but simply to restore the original. So maybe it’s different?

Any internet lawyers want to take a swing at it? (Please no real-life IP lawyers; it’s no fun if you actually know.)